ON CERTAIN HUMANITIES 285 



spring that he could not get rid of, but in a tew 

 days at the beach the cough had k^ft him. He 

 was still erect and vigorous, a hnc-looking man 

 with clean-cut features, snowy hair and beard. 

 He was digging a basket of clams before his door. 

 Few men even twenty years younger could have 

 straightened up as quickly or at all after assum- 

 ing the position of the clammerl He visited 

 his eel-pots in his old weather-beaten dory, us- 

 ing a spritsail whenever the wind was fair, his 

 own sinewy arms pulling at the oars a short 

 fisherman's stroke when the air fell calm. I 

 trust the wind and tide are favorable with him 

 now, and that he may long continue to come an 

 eeling at Ipswich. 



On a pleasant summer day when the wind and 

 tide are fair, one may be so fortunate as to see 

 an old high-floating schooner sailing up the mouth 

 of the Ipswich River between the long bar and 

 the beach, or a similar craft negotiating the more 

 dangerous passage into the Essex River. The 

 destination in the former case is the southern end 

 of Plum Island facing the sound, in the latter 

 the southern end of Ipswich beach and dunes on 



